It was just reported today in the Wenatchee World Newpaper that Pangborn Airport EAT is going to welcome a second airline serving a new destination. Currently EAT sees three flights a day on QX/AS to Seattle, a short 30 minute (or less) flight across the Cascades. The newspaper article says the new airline will announce the service Thursday morning.

In recent months there has been talk of Allegiant or possibly Skywest serving EAT. Our community is not that large, but it is isolated from major airports, especially in the winter when driving over the pass can be quite trecherous. I was wondering if anyone may have heard anything about which airline may be coming our way and where the new destination will be. This is big news for the Wenatchee Valley and Central Washington!

Really good news for EAT, though I have to say that I'm surprised to hear this news. EAT isn't a large market by any stretch of the imagination, but with the right schedule/frequency, I could see a PDX flight (or maybe even an SLC flight) working for the right carrier. I'll be surprised if its SeaPort...they just don't have the connections/capacity to make this work IMHO. We'll see though...congrats to everyone out there in the Wenatchee Valley and whoever the mystery carrier is. I'll eagerly await the press release.

SeaPort only seems to jump in when the current carriers drop out of the respective city, ie...ONP, AST, PDT, IDA and now ONP. I would be surprised with G4, they seem to have reduced frequencies to MFR, EUG & RDM. But can't think what other airline would be interested in EAT. Skywest as DL connex, dropped SLE and that's much bigger than EAT.

Well I wrote my last post too soon! Looks like it is SeaPort flying from Portland to Wenatchee via Yakima. While this is good news to have a second airline, I was hoping for something a little bit more exciting!

I have a friend that works ground, or at least used to, not sure at EAT, and lives in Chelan, it would be interesting to see who is the new kid on the block today. She said it was always the desire of EAT to attract another carrier.

With YKM added, now K5 makes sense. PDX lost it's direct flights with YKM a while back, any bets on how long the service lasts? K5 does not have the best track record of staying in one place too long. ie..ONP, AST

There is a small Wenatchee-Portland local market. Even less so out of Yakima. A one-stop likely at a price near Horizon's (sorry Alaska's), won't be successful. Horizon also has better landing aids to get in and out reliably. SeaPort will be nicely introduced to the Wenatchee weather beatdown next winter if they are still flying the route. Truthfully, this is a complete yawner for both Wenatchee and Yakima.

I think the Pacific Northwest needs a reliable carrier that can comfortably fly over the Cascades without deicing issues. In other words, better aircraft than Cessna 208's. I would hope someone would try a regional carrier using either Beech 1900's or EMB-120's.

Quoting QXFLYINGCOUG (Reply 7):Well I wrote my last post too soon! Looks like it is SeaPort flying from Portland to Wenatchee via Yakima. While this is good news to have a second airline, I was hoping for something a little bit more exciting!

Well, I've been wrong before. Hope it works out, but I'm not holding my breath on this one...

Quoting RWA380 (Reply 10):With YKM added, now K5 makes sense. PDX lost it's direct flights with YKM a while back, any bets on how long the service lasts? K5 does not have the best track record of staying in one place too long. ie..ONP, AST

Add SLE and IDA now to their list of staying in places for only a couple months, if that long.

The last time PDX-YKM had service was on QX and it ended in 1997. They only averaged between 7-10 onboards per day and were using the Metro to fly that service.

I see this one lasting 3 months. SeaPort's problem is they never give any market a chance. They almost expect it to make money right off the bat and when they don't, they run. Whoever plans these routes for them must not put together a business case that shows them losing money over the first few months while they attract pax to use it. They must just not have very much cash to sustain any kind of loss to develop any service. Which is why I see this one going away just as quickly as SLE/IDA.

They continue to blame the cutting of these routes on rising fuel costs. Newsflash, fuel is already high and isn't fluctuating so dramatically in just 2-3 months to cause these routes to go from profitable to not profitable. They just have a terrible planning department is what it sounds like to me. Or they don't have one at all because they seem to fail on their research and scenario planning if they're always pulling out after 2 months.

Quoting hatbutton (Reply 14):The last time PDX-YKM had service was on QX and it ended in 1997. They only averaged between 7-10 onboards per day and were using the Metro to fly that service

Yes, and I wonder how many of those onboards were connections to other AS/QX destinations. I agree that it's not going to last very long, I'm not sure EAT has ever had direct service to PDX before. What aircraft does K5 plan to use?

Quoting RWA380 (Reply 15):Yes, and I wonder how many of those onboards were connections to other AS/QX destinations. I agree that it's not going to last very long, I'm not sure EAT has ever had direct service to PDX before. What aircraft does K5 plan to use?

They're going to use the Caravan, which is smart compared to the PC-12, but I just don't see them being successful with their business model. I agree that 7-10 onboards were not local pax and were supported by connections on AS/QX. SeaPort doesn't have the marketing power to attract that many people per flight to connect. They couldn't make BOI-IDA work when BOI-IDA used to have 25 onboards a day. And the drive from IDA-BOI is much longer and harder to make than YKM-PDX.

Quoting hatbutton (Reply 17):They're going to use the Caravan, which is smart compared to the PC-12, but I just don't see them being successful with their business model.

Caravan??? I think the traveling public will opt for the Q400 connection through SEA. The Caravan is slow and not very nice in flying over the mountains. The Caravan is the perfect plane for airlines like Kenmore Air.

I still maintain that an airline with something like B1900D's or EMB-120's would do better in something like this...not that UA Express is doing all that well.

Quoting wedgetail737 (Reply 18):I still maintain that an airline with something like B1900D's or EMB-120's would do better in something like this...not that UA Express is doing all that well.

I'm just not sold. QX couldn't make these routes work in a pre 9/11 era with 19 seat Metros. The regulations are stricter now, and running a 19 seat operation is not very profitable. See Great Lakes Airlines. OO didn't last long in MWH and now they are pulling out of OTH. Everyone flamed QX for pulling out of OTH but now a 30 seat operation can't make it profitable either. I'm just not convinced these markets can support much air service anymore.

Quoting wedgetail737 (Reply 18):Caravan??? I think the traveling public will opt for the Q400 connection through SEA. The Caravan is slow and not very nice in flying over the mountains. The Caravan is the perfect plane for airlines like Kenmore Air.

It only makes sense if you live in YKM. Flying to PDX on SeaPort will be more convenient and quicker. But if you live in EAT, why would you ever take this? You have to do a one stop in YKM no matter what and the total trip takes 95 minutes. People will likely opt to continue to fly QX for this routing.

Quoting hatbutton (Reply 19):It only makes sense if you live in YKM. Flying to PDX on SeaPort will be more convenient and quicker. But if you live in EAT, why would you ever take this? You have to do a one stop in YKM no matter what and the total trip takes 95 minutes. People will likely opt to continue to fly QX for this routing.

I'm a big proponent of lavatories on aircraft. When you exceed 60 minutes on an aircraft without a lavatory, you start affecting some people. A stop in YKM probably isn't long enough for the those who have to go. Then, the hop from YKM to PDX is too terribly short for a Caravan.

How about air fares? Are the comparable?

Quoting USAIRWAYS321 (Reply 16):This Yakima/Wenatchee service won't see the 9-month mark. Not a chance in hell.

Quoting hatbutton (Reply 19):OO didn't last long in MWH and now they are pulling out of OTH.

Are they totally pulling out of OTH? Or are they keeping the OTH-SFO flight? I thought they were pulling the plug on OTH-PDX only. Wow, leaves OTH dry then doesn't it? Closest next airport has to be EUG then.

Quoting RWA380 (Reply 21):Are they totally pulling out of OTH? Or are they keeping the OTH-SFO flight? I thought they were pulling the plug on OTH-PDX only. Wow, leaves OTH dry then doesn't it? Closest next airport has to be EUG then.